Two losses and then this. Could they implode?? We can hope, surely…


Article 1:

Melbourne players Steven May and Jake Melksham have been slammed by the club after an incident at a posh Prahran restaurant.
The players clashed at 9pm Sunday at Entrecote restaurant, on a weekend when May was out with concussion.

He has been suspended for a week by the club.

The Herald Sun put questions to the Demons last night about the incident, with the club releasing a statement just after 11.30am today.

Melbourne general manager of football performance Alan Richardson said the club was incredibly disappointed by the incident.

“Following a dinner on Sunday evening, Jake and Steven informed us of a scuffle that took place after a lighthearted disagreement between the pair escalated,” he said.

“Both Jake and Steven had been drinking at dinner and are incredibly remorseful that things played out the way they did. Melbourne players Steven May and Jake Melksham have been slammed by the club after an incident at a posh Prahran restaurant.

The players clashed at 9pm Sunday at Entrecote restaurant, on a weekend when May was out with concussion.

He has been suspended for a week by the club.

The Herald Sun put questions to the Demons last night about the incident, with the club releasing a statement just after 11.30am today.

Melbourne general manager of football performance Alan Richardson said the club was incredibly disappointed by the incident.

“Following a dinner on Sunday evening, Jake and Steven informed us of a scuffle that took place after a lighthearted disagreement between the pair escalated,” he said.

“Both Jake and Steven had been drinking at dinner and are incredibly remorseful that things played out the way they did.

Article 2:

Demons president Kate Roffey lampooned Melbourne’s coaches and players in a series of brutal text messages fired off during a 2020 form slump.

The SMS conversations between then-director Roffey and then-president Glen Bartlett shed new light on the inner turmoil plaguing the club in the months prior to its march to last year’s premiership.

Texts reveal Roffey accusing the coaches of being too soft and having no idea, saying “feathers need to be ruffled and … some of them probably plucked”, as well as questioning whether the players were too “immature” and couldn’t cope with “critical feedback”.

The emergence of the texts come just weeks after Bartlett launched defamation action against several AFL journalists from The Age and Nine Entertainment.
reveal what was happening behind the scenes at the club.

The view peddled in the aftermath of Bartlett’s exit as president was that he had lost the support of the football department and most directors after he had publicly lambasted the team in mid-2020.

But the Herald Sun revealed in February that from late 2020 until his departure as president in April last year, there had been a major disagreement between Bartlett and other senior club figures, including CEO Gary Pert, regarding concerns about alleged bullying and behavioural issues involving coach Simon Goodwin.

In February 2021, the board even considered standing down Goodwin, amid a major investigation.

AFL chiefs Gillon McLachlan and Richard Goyder met with Bartlett and then vice-president Mohan Jesudason to discuss the crisis.

Now, texts sent by Roffey to Bartlett, who she replaced as president, reveal she had been unrelenting in her criticism of the players in mid-2020.

Despite presenting herself as a unifying figure at the club, the messages expose Roffey also being highly critical of the coaching team, even encouraging Bartlett to remove people within the football department.

At 5.57am on the morning after a heavy loss to Port Adelaide in Brisbane in July, Roffey texted: “Absolutely appalling and no excuse. Something is seriously not working right across the whole system. Time for a reality check I think.”